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Arrivals: Young adult fiction

Five current young adult novels, free of grown-up literary pretensions

Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer

Stay Where You Are and Then Leave by John Boyne

Fri., Nov. 14, 2014

Young adult novels are refreshingly free of grown-up literary pretensions, and almost always deliver strong, satisfying storytelling. Here are five current ones.

Belzhar, Meg Wolitzer

Wolitzer is one of America’s most popular writers of adult fiction, and has always shown an affinity for what it is to be young, as can be seen in her 2012 novel, The Interestings. Her latest book is narrated by Jam Gallahue, a student at a boarding school for troubled teens. Still mourning the death of her boyfriend, she signs up for Special Topics in English, a course that takes her to a mysterious realm called Belzhar.

Vampires of Manhattan, Melissa de la Cruz

De la Cruz’s Blue Bloods and Witches of East End were big hits with teens, and her latest outing picks up with the Blue Bloods gang a decade after the young immortals first waged war against evil. The new coven, Orpheus Towers, is thriving. Oliver Hazard-Perry, the devastatingly attractive regent, decides their prosperity should be celebrated with a Four Hundred Year Ball. But there are signs of a looming new conflict.

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Unspeakable, Caroline Pignat

Unspeakable was published to coincide with the centenary of the sinking of the Empress of Ireland (a.k.a. “Canada’s Titanic”) in the St. Lawrence on May 29, 1914, killing 1,012. The tale is told in flashback by Ellie Ryan, a young stewardess who survives the voyage. During the trip, she falls for a quiet fire stoker she sees writing in his journal late at night. Did he survive? She doesn’t know, but an ingenious plot device brings him closer to her.

Stay Where You Are And Then Leave, John Boyne

This book, by the author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, falls more comfortably into the category of juvenile fiction but deserves a mention in any roundup of books for young people. It’s about a London shoeshine boy who discovers his dad isn’t on a secret war mission as he’d been told but in a nearby hospital for soldiers suffering a strange disorder. This would be a fine story for kids and teens learning about World War I.

The Art of Getting Stared At, Laura Langston

Grade 11 student Sloane has produced a video that has gone viral. Now a famous film school is encouraging her to submit a second video to qualify for its scholarship program. Great so far. But the deadline is just two weeks away. The pressure increases when Sloane learns she has alopecia, and might be going bald. Sloane is a likeable heroine and Langston is a novelist with a good track record for young-adult fiction.

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